The typical CEO spends his time attending meetings, developing strategies with their board of directors and, in the case of the boss of the ASML semiconductive giant, to support questions about how he is.
It is an understandable request. As CEO of the Fortune 500 Europe Lithography group, Christophe Fouquet is in charge of one of the most important companies in the world. His payment package of 3.5 million euros ($ 3.6 million) last year, and more in the purchase options of accumulated action, not temperate the desire either.
But addressing the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management Nicolai Tangen on his In good company Podcast, Fouquet said that the question is distinguished as a coherent gap among ambitious young people.
“I see too many young people who come to see me, and they want to be CEO, and they ask me” how should we become CEO? ” And I try to explain to them in the most beautiful way possible that it is almost an absurd question, “said Fouquet.
“This is not the right question. The right question is what I’m going to do tomorrow that really excites me, who really lead me?
“Because if you are going to do it every day, there may be a chance that you are becoming CEO – probably a greater chance than you did – but you will also end up doing something that brings you joy, energy and, above all, brings it to the people around you.”
Fouquet, who says that he has never hosted ambitions for the C-Suite in his first years, says that this should extend to the subjects that young people choose to study at university, arguing that it is more important to do something that you appreciate than to adopt a career-oriented approach.
The CEO of ASML claims that this approach to career development can help segment two parts progress, focused on obtaining influence before learning to use it.
“I think that the first part of your career is to prove yourself, I really believe that,” said Fouquet, adding that he had realized that this part of his life ended when he took care of a product unit at ASML over ten years ago.
“And then you are looking forward to, you say, okay, what is the next one … What can I do to help and where is the place where I can do something that matters?”
Fouquet’s role has changed during his stay at ASML. At 230 billion dollars, the group deserves more orders of magnitude than when it joined the company in 2008.
The group’s actions hung after the COVID-19 pandemic, first during a wide increase in the demand for technological actions and again during the AI boom.
The company provides its lithographic machines to the largest companies in the world, including NVIDIA, which allows the production of advanced semiconductors used in AI applications.
As a key element of the global supply chain, the role of Foquest should only grow in meaning.
Publisher’s note: a version of this article first appeared on Fortune.com on February 12, 2025.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
